Russia's only real opposition is in Freedom of Russia and guerrilla movements – former Russian MP Ponomarev

He stated this in an interview with Espreso TV.

When asked about the opposition potential in Russia on the example of the Navalny movement, Ponomaryov said: "First of all, Navalny's electorate, his supporters look at what the FBK (Anti-Corruption Action Fund, a non-profit organization established by Alexei Navalny in 2011 - ed.) tells them, and the FBK has always told them: let's go there with flashlights, let's go there with white bags, let's do something else, but there is no armed protest, no real struggle. Of course, this is how they are treating it now, and the FBK hasn't said anything yet, hasn't called for any protest, which I also really don't like."

The former State Duma deputy explained that he had offered Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation to organize a joint opposition rally in support of the deceased leader.

"But the initiative should be theirs. In the end, we need to understand that the only real opposition is the opposition that keeps arms in the Freedom of Russia Legion and other Russian units - this is a guerrilla movement, and Navalny and his people have always criticized them," the member of the Executive Council of the Russian Federation's Congress of People's Deputies concluded.

Background

On Friday, February 16, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service announced the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

On the same day, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of European cities to express their outrage over Navalny's death, blaming it on Putin.

In Russia, people are not allowed to lay flowers in Navalny's memory. There are already hundreds of people detained by the police.

Navalny's relatives have been denied access to view or retrieve his body. The most recent unofficially verified information indicates that his body is currently located in Salekhard.

Before that, the Russian emigrant newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Europe reported that the body of Alexei Navalny was allegedly covered with bruises. This could be either after the beatings or as a result of convulsions caused by the poison.

Citing its own sources in the Russian Investigative Committee and Navalny's entourage, the Russian opposition outlet Sota reported that he died of gradual poisoning in small doses.